his head, and cast a despairing glance
over the desert ocean.

But on the morning of the 24th of March Ayrton's arms were extended
towards a point in the horizon; he raised himself, at first on his
knees, then upright, and his hand seemed to make a signal.

A sail was in sight off the rock. She was evidently not without an
object. The reef was the mark for which she was making in a direct
line, under all steam, and the unfortunate colonists might have made her
out some hours before if they had had the strength to watch the horizon.

"The _Duncan_!" murmured Ayrton--and fell back without sign of life.

When Cyrus Harding and his companions recovered consciousness, thanks to
the attention lavished upon them, they found themselves in the cabin of
a steamer, without being able to comprehend how they had escaped death.

A word from Ayrton explained everything.

"The _Duncan_!" he murmured.

"The _Duncan_!" exclaimed Cyrus Harding. And raising his hand to
Heaven, he said, "Oh! Almighty God! mercifully hast Thou preserved us!"

It was, in fact, the _Duncan_, Lord Glenarvan's yacht, now commanded by
Robert, son of Captain Grant, who had been despatched to Tabor Island to
find Ayrton, and bring him back to his native land after twelve years of
expiation.

The colonists were not only saved, but already on the way to their
native country.

"Captain Grant," asked Cyrus Harding, "who can have suggested to you the
idea, after having left Tabor Island, where you did not find Ayrton, of
coming a hundred miles farther north-east?"

"Captain Harding," replied Robert Grant, "it was in order to find, not
only Ayrton, but yourself and your companions."

"My companions and myself?"

"Doubtless, at Lincoln Island."

"At Lincoln Island!" exclaimed in a breath Gideon Spilett, Herbert, Neb,
and Pencroft, in the highest degree astonished.

"How could you be aware of the existence of Lincoln Island?" inquired
Cyrus Harding, "it is not even named in the charts."

"I knew of it from a document left by you on Tabor Island," answered
Robert Grant.

"A document?" cried Gideon Spilett.

"Without doubt, and here it is," answered Robert Grant, producing a
paper which indicated the longitude and latitude of Lincoln Island, "the
present residence of Ayrton and five American colonists."

"It is Captain Nemo!" cried Cyrus Harding, after having read the notice,
and recognised that the handwriting was similar to that of the paper
fo